Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap Page #6

I write battle rhymes.

I'm like

the russian government.

I have a record

ready prepared for everybody.

Push it

Push, push, push it, push it

Push it

Push, push,

push it, push it

There was a time

before you ever

started rapping.

Right.

push it, push it...

What made you say

out of everything else in the world,

as a girl,

a young girl, saying, "I'm gonna do that."

When I did

get behind the mic...

Mm-Hmm.

And hearing myself

and experiencing the art

of being on the microphone

and figuring out what your voice is.

That was

the hard part for me.

That's what people

don't understand. It's not like...

They think you're just

talking over a record,

but we had to develop

who we were as artists,

our voice, you know,

our... our inflictions, our flow,

how we were gonna sound,

how we were gonna be different

from all the other women,

and that took a minute

for us to develop.

When I first

got with my wife,

she said something to me

in the car one day

that almost made me

stop the car.

You know,

she would listen...

She likes dance music

and stuff,

but she told me,

"well, I don't listen to the words."

And I was like...

To a lyricist,

you're like, you don't listen to the...

My husband says that

all the time.

I want to strangle him.

I'm like,

"are you serious?"

"Are you kidd...

As hard as I work on these words,

you're telling me

you don't listen to the words?"

"You know how

we agonize over words,

and you're not...

You're not listening."

Like, you're missing,

uh, half of the song

if you don't listen

to the words.

But I sit up

and listen to lyrics.

I hear every word

you're saying, because that's what we do.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Give me a rhyme

that stuck in your head,

somebody... I don't

care who it was. Just something that...

We all got 'em

stuck in our head from another rapper.

Oh, man. Um...

Well, hip, hop, hippy,

hippy to the hip

Hip hop, and you

don't stop rocking

To the bang bang boogie,

say up jump the boogie

To the rhythm

of the boogity beat

Now what you hear

is not a test

I'm rapping to the beat

Check it out now

Unh

No doubt now

Unh

Yo, check it out now

Unh

No doubt, yo

Special girl,

real good girl

Yo, player!

Okay.

Okay. Okay, okay.

You know, this is

what it is when you on the block.

It could be...

It could be worse.

Niggas could be

shooting at us, so...

Right, right, right, right.

We'll take that.

"Yo, ice-t!"

You turn around, pow.

So we'll accept that.

We'll accept the love.

Love is good.

Love is good.

All right, homie, homie,

homie, you see

the camera right there?

I see that.

Keep it moving, pimpin'.

All right, love is love.

Yo

I be the all I seein'

Mcing human being

Soon to be

in your museum

When I'm

in your coliseum

I'm mcing

Punishing whack niggas

for disagreeing

"Did you see him?"

No, 'cause he moves

like the wind in flight

Counterattack

like a jedi knight

If you ever did think

about combating

General patton

Of this mc sh*t

you did

Chill out

He just a private

in the lower class

I be the upper echelon

Don juan

when the mic's on

My voice is... is so much

a part of my style,

that once you get

past and beyond that

and you hear what's

going on, my... my thing

is about substance

and presentation,

so I kind of fall

into the beat.

I'm like a... my sh*t is...

I'm a chameleon when I rhyme.

Mm-Hmm.

Which is a part of like

why I... I kind of stay,

'cause I fall into the rhythm,

and I become

a slave in the rhythm, and then it's like...

So you was

wu tang, you'd be chameleon style?

Right, right, right.

No doubt.

Can you recite

a rhyme that's stuck in your head

from another mc

that you roll with

that's part

of your brain now?

Yeah. Ah, man,

it's so many.

I take seven mcs

Put 'em in a line

And add

seven more brothers

Who think

they can rhyme

Well, it'll take

seven more

Before I go for mine

That's 21 mcs

ate up at the same time

Easy does it, do it easy,

that's what I'm doin'

No fessin',

no messin' around, no chewin'

No robbin',

no buyin', bitin'

Why bother?

It's time to stop

trying to fight and

To follow

My unusual style

Will confuse you a while

If I was water,

I'd flow with the nile

So many rhymes, you won't

have time to go for yours

Just because of the pause,

I had to pause

Right after tonight

is when I prepare

To take another

sucka duck mc out here

'Cause my strategy

has to be tragedy

Catastrophe

And after this,

you'll call me

Your majesty

my melody

Hey, hey, hey, hey,

hey. Hey, yo.

Can't you see

we shooting something?

You dumb-ass,

stand around the other way.

Stupid.

God damn.

Let's stand in front

of the camera.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Yo, hold up, player,

player, player,

player, you see

what we doing? We working.

This is

work, work, work.

Let us work,

and then we do it.

Help me out with

these niggas. Okay.

I'm sure to bust

your sh*t like bolo

Black nation needs

a team, f*** solo

I could see it in your eyes,

the redness

When your ass starts to cry,

it's webness

You could witness the sh*t

That I kick

from the linguistics

But please be specific

Dealing with the tribe,

but you never can

Yo, ice-t,

I'm glad I got my man

Get it, get it,

get, get it, get it

Get down

come on

Get down

get it, get it...

I'm what you call

like... they call a method writer.

There has to be a method

for the madness.

I have to always be

conscious of the fact

that my words are

always gonna be watched no matter what.

Because if I make

a statement,

I gotta make sure

that I'm 100% behind it.

Come on

get down

Ohh

1989

The number,

another summer

Get down

sound of the funky drummer

Music hittin' your heart

'Cause I know

you got soul...

When you show me

some lyrics in there,

what's your mind state

when you write your best stuff?

I mean, are you tired,

are you angry,

or... or are you in light?

When do you go in, and you

say, "okay, I can do it?"

'Cause me myself, like I

cannot write for a week,

and then one night,

I can damn near write an album.

Right.

It just happens.

The inspiration could

come from anywhere.

It's always been able

to come from anywhere

as far as music

is concerned. Mm-Hmm.

I wrote

fear of a black planet

listening

to a whole lot of sly and the family stone.

All I would say

is that you're surprised

that sometimes

your simplest sh*t...

Right.

Is the thing that sticks the most.

I mean... I mean,

okay, "elvis was a hero to most."

That never

meant sh*t to me."

I mean,

that's really basic, simple and plain.

Elvis was a hero to most

But he never

meant sh... to me

You see

straight-out racist

That sucka

was simple and plain

Mother him

and john wayne...

The key

in a rapper back then

is that you had to have

a strong voice,

'cause you

had to cut through bullshit systems.

Right.

That was the key

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